Llanfair v Aberaeron
After losing in the cup against Llanfair recently? It was going to be a tall order to try and get s result on their own patch. The game started with Llanfair putting pressure on the visitors and might have gone ahead a few times, but a combination of close shaves, good saves and last ditch defence kept them at bay. Aberaeron began to grow in to the game and created a few chances of their own, but the heavily sanded goalmouths prevented clean strikes at goal. Ifan Burrell, lively all afternoon was unlucky on numerous occasions.
The visitors were satisfied with a goalless first half and started the second half brightly and looking more likely to score. Llanfair, who like to play a long ball game changed tactics and played a good ball forward and then played a nest one- two releasing their Talisman Selly who ran through to slot the ball under Olly Farebrother who was having an excellent game. Aberaeron were stung and took the game to Llanfair again. A couple of corners saw the visitors come close and then a great corner delivery by Steff Gittins met the forehead of Elwyn Edwards for another one of his trademark bullet headers.
Aberaeron now began to take control and were looking for a famous victory, unfortunately however a rash challenge in the visitors area saw a needless penalty conceded. Selly accepted the challenge and scored with ease. A cruel blow to a group of players who had given their all for the cause and was hard to swallow! It had been a great team effort with all players performing very well. The lesson to be learnt is to cut out needless errors and the results will most certainly improve.

To those who wish to attend, the funeral of our club president John Jones will take place at Aberystwyth Crematorium on Thursday 17th January at 2pm. 

Aberaeron were keen to put the disappointing result last week behind them and started brightly, dominated the play and were playing neat football with both centre backs, Elwyn Edwards and Sam Middleton bringing the ball forward and finding teammates with ease. Dafydd Roberts at right back had a lot of possession and was instrumental in creating some very good openings. Aberaeron took the lead early with a good finish by front runner Ifan Burrell. Once again Aberaeron ‘took their foot off the pedal’ and invited pressure from a hard working Kerry. It was no surprise that Kerry scored and again a poor goal to concede. In typical fashion, Aberaeron grabbed the game by the ‘scruff of the neck’ and created some very good opportunities. From a brilliant driven corner Elwyn Edwards leapt highest and thundered an unstoppable header past the bemused Kerry goalkeeper. A great goal!
Early in the second half Kerry, once more created a few chances and again levelled the score in controversial fashion with the assistant referee deeming that the ball had crossed the line to the astonishment of the home defenders. Another poor goal to concede. 
The game was riddled with misplaced passes and was frustrating for the players and supporters, however Aberaeron looked the better team and Chris Wilkins who was having a great game picked out James Hemmings with a run and cross for 3-2! Surely this was the moment to finish off the opponents? Unfortunately the Kerry striker dribbled past a couple of defenders and although it looked like the defence had controlled the situation, the striker swivelled and hit a hopeful ball towards goal that seemed to catch the home keeper out of position and rolled over the line. From that moment Aberaeron created opportunity after opportunity and missed some glorious chances and the visiting keeper was having a day to remember. Brilliant interplay between Chris Wilkins and Ifan Burrell saw the latter score a superb goal for 4-3. Surely no way back, this time for the visitors! No, Aberaeron ‘shot themselves in the foot’ again with a floated free kick in to the area causing problems and poked home for a late equaliser! A disaster and the resulting draw felt like a loss with the home team being totally dejected after throwing away such a good opportunity.

Aberaeron v Tywyn Bryncrug
With nearly a full squad to choose from Aberaeron gave a debut to centre-back Sam Middleton who looked very comfortable in the back four and classy in bringing the ball out of defence. Aberaeron started well and played well both in and out of possession. A few passes failed to finish promising moves but with Ifan Burrell and Chris Wilkins playing well it was inevitable for Aberaeron to take the lead. In typical fashion Ifan Burrell latched on to the ball just inside the Tywyn half and breezed past two defenders and drilled the ball past the keeper for a great striker’s goal. Aberaeron continued to dominate but Tywyn worked hard and made it difficult for them and one nil at half time was a testament to Tywyn’s doggedness. The second half saw a continuation of Chris Wilkins ‘roasting’ the Tywyn left back and putting in dangerous crosses. From one flying run the cross reached Gareth Severs who did not need an invitation to dispatch the ball with aplomb for another goal in his prolific season.
Aberaeron created chance after chance but were unable to increase their lead. They brought on three substitutes which included a home debut for Niall Coleridge who looked impressive with his running, passing and dead ball play. This was a comfortable win for Aberaeron based on not underestimating the opposition, working tirelessly to win back possession and creating a hatful of opportunities and with Elwyn Edwards barking out instructions and demanding total commitment, the team look forward to 2019 with confidence

Aberaeron  v Caersws
The visitors arrived as league leaders with an expectation to return immediately to the Cumru Alliance. Aberaeron on the other hand has had a mixed season with a number of key players injured for some time. Once again the squad was stretched with manager, Jason Jones needing to be on the bench. 
Aberaeron started strongly with James Hemmings setting the example by being first to every ball, in the air and on the floor. The whole team seemed to respond and after 8 minutes took the lead when Elwyn Edwards played a clever pass in to the area for Gareth Severs, who was outstanding all game, to finish with aplomb. Aberaeron continued to play neat football, keeping the ball low in the blustery conditions. In fact Aberaeron managed the difficult conditions much better than Caersws. It was no surprise to see Aberaeron double their lead with outstanding striker, Ifan Burrell scoring once again. 
Caersws began to rise from their slumbers and started to put the home team under pressure with a few corners and dangerous crosses. From one ball in to the area, the unfortunate Elwyn Edwards was unlucky when a ball hit him on the hand and the referee deemed it deliberate. The penalty was dispatched with confidence. Aberaeron responded and from one attack possession was lost and Caersws sent a long ball for their striker to beat the last defender and slot the ball neatly in to the corner of the net. Parity restored! Aberaeron, however reacted well and created couple of good openings. Ifan Burrell beat three defenders and was running through on goal, but the defence managed to put him off just as he was taking the shot. 
Aberaeron were very positive at half time and were confident of gaining a result. They completely controlled the game in the second half with  James Hemmings, Dave Evans and Gareth Severs controlling midfield and Ifan Burell being a thorn in the visitors' side all afternoon. After twenty minutes the pressure paid off with a couple of attempts being thwarted before man of the match Hemmings shooting home from ten yards. Aberaeron remained dominant until the last fifteen minutes when Caersws really showed their quality and created some good opportunities. However, Ollie Farebrother in goal wad truly outstanding with a couple of tremendous saves with the efforts heading for the 'top corner'.
Aberaeron saw the game out achieving their best win of the season so far. It was well deserved and was testament to team spirit, team work and 100% effort by every team member.

The home team were looking forward to this fixture after two non-playing week-ends. Aberaeron started brightly and strung together some very good passing moves and putting the visitors under quite a lot of pressure. Llandod’s tactics were clear from the outset in using the long ball tactics to good effect, be they from their goalkeeper, dangerous free-kicks in to the area and a long throw that caused havoc on occasions. Llandod scored from a free kick with the Aberaeron defence deep in their area the ball was headed towards the goal and the home keeper could only get one hand to the ball and was unable to stop it from crossing the line. Aberaeron in typical fashion responded well and both Ifan Burrell and Steff Gittins put the visitors under enormous pressure. Gittins was brought down and his perfectly driven free-kick was headed cleverly in to the net by Dan James who is in a rich vein of scoring. 
Before Aberaeron could ‘turn the screw’ they conceded a soft penalty and their good work was undone! Aberaeron are made of sterner stuff these days and, once again grabbed the game by the collar and created some really good chances through James Hemmings, Gareth Severs, Steff Gittins and Ifan Burrell. Not surprisingly Ifan Burrell latched on to a through pass to equalise with ease. Half-time came without further goals and Aberaeron decided to play a little deeper in the second half to nullify the long-ball tactic and this seemed to work well with Aberaeron being completely dominant doing everything but score! Ifan Burrell was his usual marauding self and a tactical foul stopping him running through on goal saw the Llandod defender receiving a second yellow card and sent off. One way traffic increased with more and more opportunities created. Llandod have a good team spirit and did create a couple of chances on the break. Neil Davies the home keeper was called upon on a couple of occasions with one excellent save going down low to his left to deny a certain goal. Aberaeron tried and tried with Dave Evans playing brilliantly down the left putting in dangerous crosses after dangerous crosses. He was ably assisted by Gareth Lewis, the left full back who had a terrific second half and was a very good offensive option down the left. The half ended as it had started with Aberaeron ‘camped’ in the opponent’s half, but the winning goal never came. Neither side deserved to lose so in the end it was an honourable draw.

Aberaeron welcomed high flying Radnor to wet and windy conditions which, unfortunately effected the game somewhat. Aberaeron created the early opportunities and tested the visiting keeper on a few occasions. Lost possession in midfield saw Radnor ‘shift’ the ball ad quickly as possible to their excellent striker, Joey Price, who was able to hold off a couple of defenders and fire low under the keeper. A cruel blow, but Aberaeron as is their nature, responded well and took a firm grip of the game. The Radnor keeper was having ‘one of those days’ and made terrific saves one after another. The best was a thunderous thirty yard shot by Gareth Severs which was destined to hit the back of the net but was saved brilliantly. Aberaeron could not believe that they did not score in the first half, particularly as the strong wind was behind them. 
It was going to be a tall order to create chances in the second half, however Aberaeron kept the ball on the floor and played excellent football, again creating chances which were all saved excellently. 
Disaster happened after fifteen minutes when striker Wilkins was shown the yellow card for the second time and was sent off. The huge task had now become even bigger! Aberaeron, however reacted really well and took a strong hold on the game and were dominant. On twenty five minutes Ifan Burrell cleverly cut in from the right and played a great ball to midfielder Dan James who had timed his run to perfection to blast the ball in to the roof of the net to the home spectator’s delight. They continued to dominate and again were thwarted by the visiting keeper who was clearly Man of the Match. Radnor, however took the lead in an exact copy of the first goal with Joey Price running beyond the home defence and scoring comfortably. This was another cruel blow and even though Aberaeron tried to equalise the visitors finished strongly where Price might have scored another two goals but was thwarted by a brilliant tackle by Dafydd Roberts and a cleared header off the line. 
Although downbeat after the game Aberaeron should be rightly proud of their performance against the team of the season so far. They will take strength from this performance and, hopefully take it to the next game.

 Aberaeron Football Club would like to thank Morgan & Davies Estate Agents for kindly sponsoring our first team with a fab new kit.

Established in 1989, Morgan & Davies, is a leading estate agent providing a comprehensive service to their customers including Estate Agency & Residential Property, Rural Property Services, Surveys & Valuation, Planning & Development throughout Wales.

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